History

Los Portales Mexican Restaurant’s History

In 1990, Tomas Leon established Los Portales Mexican Restaurant in Jackson, TN. Los Portales was Jackson’s first family-owned Mexican restaurant. The Leon brothers Tomas, Marcos, Isaac, George and Gilberto moved to the United States approximately 25 years ago, and now own 16 restaurants in Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and Louisiana.

The Los Portales staff serves up plenty of Southern hospitality flavored with a Mexican accent. From tacos, enchiladas and chimichangas, to taquitos, nachos and salsa, authentic Mexican influences are found throughout the menu.

We utilize the basic ingredients of Mexican cooking, including native foods such as corn, beans and chili peppers. Other popular ingredients include tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla.

“We pride ourselves in using natural, local ingredients,” said Tomas.

“Our recipes are made daily on site. We make our own tamales, guacamole, salsa, flan and cheese sauce in-house. We use ingredients that are fresh and never frozen – it’s always better. Melted cheese Americanizes our traditional dishes. In Mexico, we don’t serve ground beef and we don’t refry beans rather we serve whole beans. The foods we serve are really Tex-Mex rather than authentic Mexican,” explained Joel Aguirre, manager of a Jackson location.